IPT for the Developing World

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The first large-scale use of Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT) could be in developing regions.

These people do not have a lot to lose. For many or most people in these countries, life is hard, resources are scarce, and western medicine tends to be scarce and too expensive. And these are the places where the most serious infectious diseases are found, often out of control. Regulation of medical practices, so strict in developed countries, must surrender in many cases to practicality. People are suffering and dying. If something works, and if they can afford it, people are willing to try it.

	Think of Africa, where, in several of the countries, HIV is rampant and AIDS is decimating the population. 70 percent of the world's people with HIV live in Sub-Saharan Africa. 13 million Africans have died from AIDS, 90 percent of the world total. People with AIDS are too weak to grow crops. When they die, they leave orphans (many with HIV), now numbering 11 million, . HIV-positive people are shunned as though they were pariahs. Treatment with western drugs is far beyond the financial means of all but the elite. Health ministers are trying to educate people about condoms, and they have little hope except for vaccines they hope will come. AIDS is rampant in parts of southeast Asia, as well Perhaps IPT can offer hope to Africa, and Asia, if not to cure AIDS, at least to treat it simply and inexpensively. See the IPTQ page about HIV/AIDS and read the AIDS-related Articles. Even if symptoms can be suppressed in patients for a few years, it will buy precious time for many people, as vaccine and other treatment research continues.
	Think of malaria, for which there is no vaccine. Treatment is expensive, often unaffordable, and malaria parasites continue to become resistant to one drug after another. We have one report, in a Time Magazine article from 1947, of IPT being used by Dr. Perez Garcia 1 for treating a few stubborn cases of malaria. "A malaria patient had no more fever" after his first treatment. Based on IPT's superb track record with treating serious infectious diseases, it would be worthwhile to take another look at its use for malaria. A few simple experiments could show if this possibility is worth pursuing.
	Think of tuberculosis, under control in developed countries for decades, but starting to come back, and out of control in financially troubled countries, notably Russia... Again, treatment is costly, and it takes a long time. We do not know if IPT was ever tried for treating tuberculosis by Dr. Perez Garcia 1 or Dr. Perez Garcia y Bellon 2. But again, based on IPT's track record with other chronic and infectious diseases, and with other lung diseases, it is worth a try. Our prediction is that IPT will speed up treatment for tuberculosis and reduce the dose of drugs required. Even though IPT is more complex than just taking pills, this might serve to reduce the cost of treatment, and increase the likelihood that patients will follow the entire (shorter) course of medication.
	Think of all the other diseases that plague the developing regions. Sleeping sickness. Meningitis. Cholera. Lassa fever. Yellow fever. We can hope that, based on its success in treating other infectious diseases, properly applied IPT will succeed with these as well.
	Think of all the diseases that we also have in the wealthy countries. For example, China has a terrible problem with lung cancer and other respiratory diseases, due to air pollution and tobacco smoke. In its few doctor-years of application, IPT has a reportedly great track record for these conditions. No high tech cancer treatment is available to most of the poor people of the world. IPT could be an affordable solution for them. And there are many other possible applications.

The IPT method can be modified for use in developing regions. An inexpensive butterfly needle (a needle and valve held to the arm with a butterfly-shaped bandage) inserted into a vein can replace the expensive intravenous bag and tubing. Glass syringes can be sterilized and reused. Where needed, a simpler low-tech protocol could be tried -- intramuscular injection of insulin, followed by oral medication, and finally drinking of sugar-rich liquids at the therapeutic moment. This is how Dr. Perez Garcia 1 did IPT in the beginning.

Resources are being directed towards these health problems of the developing regions. And time is of the essence.

US Vice President Al Gore recently pledged $150 million to the United Nations for fighting AIDS. A small portion of this could be applied to a pilot IPT program which, if it works, could attract even more funds.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which "is dedicated to improving people's lives by sharing advances in health and learning with the global community", recently gave $750 million to a 5-year program to help make vaccines available to children in developing regions, and to help develop vaccines for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis. A grant much smaller than this could fund major clinical studies in the developing regions for IPT treatment of all of these diseases. [Unfortunately, this foundation has turned our request down.]

Doctors without Borders (Médecins sans Frontières), awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, should know exactly what to do with IPT. Unfortunately, they have not responded to several emails.

The World Health Organization also rejected our appeal for them to investigate IPT for use in the developing world, on the basis that there has not yet been a lot of scientific work on IPT. (Catch 22 again. It seems like these people want guarantees before they try something. Unfortunately, there are no drug companies interested in funding the studies that the WHO is looking for. A philanthropist is needed...)

As Dr. Paquette wrote in his book, Medicine of Hope,
"If no one tries this treatment, when will we know whether or not it is good?"

Diseases in the developing regions may seem distant and irrelevant and unbelievable to many of us in the developed countries, those of us rich enough to afford cars and computers and Internet access. But these people are real just like us, they are part of our world, they are much closer than we think. And, whether we realize it or not, their suffering impoverishes us. And, if that is not enough, their diseases also endanger us, as they are only a short airline flight away. It will not take a lot of resources to try IPT in the developing regions. The IPT doctors can provide training and consultation. Better to do this now than later.

If you know anyone in the developing world, especially a doctor or government official, please let them know about IPT and this website. If they have Internet service, you can send them a free email about IPTQ.